Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben is the first book in the Myron Bolitar, sports agent/lawyer/investigator series. This book was published in 1995 which for those of us old enough to remember is a story within the story in itself.
Anyway, Bolitar is an up and coming sports agent to up and coming athletes. The story shows how cutthroat the business is and how agents will try just about anything to outdo each other in order to get athletes to sign with them.
But the main plot is Bolitar’s ex-girlfriend’s sister, who went missing over a year ago seems to suddenly reappear in a series of seedy pictures and phone calls, which includes to one of Bolitar’s star athletes. What unravels is the mystery of what happened to college student Cathy Culver, who had turned her life around and seemed to be finally happy and in love. Could she really be alive? Her family needs some closure especially since her father has just died of what appears to be a random mugging. Could the two deaths be connected? And how and why?
A definite page turner with an I can’t stop reading until I know who did it and how and why aspect. It reminds me of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series with that same quick wit and sarcasm and easy dialogue. I enjoyed the book as well as the flashback to the 1990’s.
Lisa's Cubby 